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Introduction: What Is Enlightenment Scepticism? A Critical Rereading of Richard Popkin

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Scepticism in the Eighteenth Century: Enlightenment, Lumières, Aufklärung

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Abstract

Richard Popkin’s first works devoted to scepticism in the Enlightenment make it look as if the eighteenth century had no concern for sceptical texts. With the exception of Hume, who is presented as the only true sceptic of the Enlightenment, Popkin believes that eighteenth century thinkers were primarily defenders of experimental science and theoreticians of a continuous progress in knowledge. Thus, in this view, scepticism was, at best, a methodological tool enabling a richer scientific research, or, at worst, a philosophical stand now completely refuted due to its practical absurdity. In his later works, Popkin nuanced this caricatural position thanks to his reading of historians of early modern philosophy such as Ezequiel de Olaso, Giorgio Tonelli, or Keith Baker. However, he never totally refuted his initial hypothesis that scepticism was not essential to the Enlightenment. In this paper, I shall come back to Popkin’s arguments and explore various aspects of eighteenth century scepticism that he did not know of in order to offer a fairer evaluation of the importance of scepticism in the Enlightenment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Richard Popkin, “Scepticism in the Enlightenment” [1963], in R. H. Popkin et al. (eds.), Scepticism in the Enlightenment, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1997, p. 1.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., p. 8.

  3. 3.

    Ibid., p. 13.

  4. 4.

    Richard Popkin, “Scepticism and Anti-Scepticism in the Latter Part of the Eighteenth Century” [1976], in R. H. Popkin et al. (eds.), Scepticism in the Enlightenment, op. cit., p. 19.

  5. 5.

    On Beausobre’s scepticism, see the article by John Christian Laursen in Heiner Klemme and Manfred Huehn (eds.), Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers. Bristol, Thoemmes Press, 2008, and my own “Des excès dogmatiques à la guérison sceptique: le pyrrhonisme raisonnable de Beausobre”, Libertinage et philosophie au xvii e siècle, 12, 2010, pp. 205–217.

  6. 6.

    Claude-Joseph Boncerf, Le vrai philosophe, ou l’usage de la philosophie relativement à la société civile, à la vérité et à la vertu, avec l’histoire, l’exposition exacte et la réfutation du pyrrhonisme ancien et moderne, Paris, Rabuty fils et Brocas l’aîné, 1762. All translation are mines unless ­otherwise stated.

  7. 7.

    Jean-Henri-Samuel Formey, Le triomphe de l’évidence, avec un discours préliminaire par M. de Haller, Berlin, Lange, 1756, 2 vols. Formey’s overview, written in the 1730s, had already been published in German by Haller five years earlier as Prüfung der Secte die an allem zweifelt (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck, 1751).

  8. 8.

    On clandestine scepticism, see my “Scepticisme et clandestinité”, Historia philosophica, 5, 2007, pp. 143–158, which provides an overview of the topic.

  9. 9.

    Regarding this manuscript, see two articles by Gianni Paganini: “Scepsi clandestina: i Doutes des pyrrhoniens”, in G. Canziani (ed.), Filosofia e religione nella letteratura clandestina, Milan, Franco Angeli, 1994, pp. 83–122, and “Du bon usage du scepticisme: les Doutes des pyrrhoniens”, in A. McKenna and A. Mothu (eds.), La philosophie clandestine à l’âge classique, Paris/Oxford, Universitas/Voltaire Foundation, 1997, pp. 291–306.

  10. 10.

    Richard Popkin, “New Views on the Role of Scepticism in the Enlightenment”, in R. H. Popkin et al. (eds.), Scepticism in the Enlightenment, op. cit., p. 157.

  11. 11.

    On this, see the explicit preface to Narcisse in Rousseau, Œuvres complètes, Paris, Gallimard, 1964, Vol. II, p. 965.

  12. 12.

    Émile (Fabre ms.), variant (b), in Rousseau, Œuvres complètes, Paris, Gallimard, 1969, Vol. IV, p. 1283. Translations are mine.

  13. 13.

    Émile, in Rousseau, ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 567–568. See also Lettre à Voltaire, in Rouseau, ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 1070–1071.

  14. 14.

    Ezequiel de Olaso, “Los dos escepticismos del vicario saboyano” [1980], reissued in R. A. Watson and J. E. Force (eds.), The Sceptical Mode in Modern Philosophy. Essays in Honor of Richard H. Popkin, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1988, pp. 43–57. On Rousseau and scepticism, see also Marc-André Nadeau’s article in this volume.

  15. 15.

    Émile, in Rousseau, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 570.

  16. 16.

    Olaso, op. cit., p. 22.

  17. 17.

    Giorgio Tonelli, “The ‘Weakness’ of Reason in the Age of Enlightenment” [1971], in R. H. Popkin et al. (eds.), Scepticism in the Enlightenment, op. cit., pp. 35–50.

  18. 18.

    Giorgio Tonelli, “Pierre-Jacques Changeux and Scepticism in the French Enlightenment” [1974], in R. H. Popkin et al. (eds.), Scepticism in the Enlightenment, op. cit., pp. 51–68.

  19. 19.

    Pierre-Jacques Changeux, Traité des Extrémes, ou des élémens de la science de la réalité, Amsterdam, Darkstée & Merkus, 1767, 2 vols. A summary of Changeux’s book written by Vallet was published in 1772 in Volume XVIII of the Encyclopédie d’Yverdon and was subsequently republished in 1776, in Volume II of the Supplement to Diderot’s Encyclopedia, under the entry “Extrême”.

  20. 20.

    Tonelli, “Pierre-Jacques Changeux and Scepticism in the French Enlightenment”, op. cit., p. 52.

  21. 21.

    Changeux, op. cit., Vol. I, Book I, chap. IX, pp. 29–30.

  22. 22.

    Tonelli, “Pierre-Jacques Changeux and Scepticism in the French Enlightenment”, op. cit., p. 54.

  23. 23.

    Keith M. Baker, Condorcet: From Natural Philosophy to Social Mathematics, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1975.

  24. 24.

    Condorcet, Notes sur Voltaire, in Œuvres de Condorcet, Paris, Firmin Didot frères, 1847, Vol. IV, p. 559.

  25. 25.

    Condorcet, Discours sur l’astronomie et le calcul des probabilités, in O’Connor and Arago (eds.), Œuvres de Condorcet, Paris, Didot, 1847, Vol. I, p. 502. That is partly the reason why Condorcet refuses to collaborate to Brissot de Warville’s project of a universal Pyrrhonism applied indifferently to all sciences. For more details on that point, see my contribution on Brissot in this volume.

  26. 26.

    Richard Popkin, “Brissot and Condorcet: Skeptical Philosophers”, in R. H. Popkin and J. Van der Zande (eds.), The Sceptical Tradition around 1800. Scepticism in Philosophy, Science, and Society, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1998, p. 36.

  27. 27.

    This is the conclusion recently reached by John Christian Laursen, “Swiss Anti-skeptics in Berlin”, in Martin Fontius and Helmut Holzhey (eds.), Schweizer im Berlin des 18. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 1996, pp. 261–282, and “Tame Skeptics at the Prussian Academy”, Libertinage et philosophie au xvii e siècle, 12, 2010, pp. 219–228.

  28. 28.

    Cf. Friedbert Holz, Kant et l’Académie de Berlin, Frankfurt, Peter Lang, 1981.

  29. 29.

    On this twofold use of scepticism in the Prussian Academy, see my “Lumières allemandes et scepticisme: le cas de l’Académie de Berlin”, in M.-H. Quéval (ed.), Orthodoxie et hétérodoxie dans l’Europe des Lumières, Rennes, Presses de l’Université de Rennes, 2010, pp. 139–149.

  30. 30.

    Livres académiques de Cicéron traduits et éclaircis par Mr. de Castillon, Berlin, Decker, 1779, 2 vols.

  31. 31.

    John Christian Laursen and Richard H. Popkin, “Sources of Knowledge of Sextus Empiricus in Kant’s Time: A French Translation of Sextus Empiricus from the Prussian Academy, 1779”, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 6, 2, 1998, pp. 261–267. On Castillon, see also the article by John Christian Laursen, “Cicero in the Prussian Academy: Castillon’s Translation of the Academica”, History of European Ideas, 23, 2–4, 1997, pp. 117–126.

  32. 32.

    David Hume, Essais philosophiques sur l’entendement humain, Amsterdam, 1758, 2 vols.

  33. 33.

    David Hume, Philosophische Versuche über die Menschliche Erkenntniß, Hamburg and Leipzig, 1755.

  34. 34.

    Cf. John C. Laursen and Richard H. Popkin, “Hume in the Prussian Academy: Jean Bernard Mérian’s ‘On the Phenomenalism of David Hume’”, Hume Studies, 23, 1997, pp. 153–191.

  35. 35.

    Jean-Bernard Mérian, “Sur le phénoménisme de David Hume”, Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres depuis l’avènement de Frédéric Guillaume II au trône, Berlin, George Decker, 1798, pp. 417–437.

  36. 36.

    Louis-Frédéric Ancillon, “Mémoire sur la certitude, et en particulier sur la nature de la certitude humaine”, Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et des Belles Lettres depuis l’avènement de Frédéric Guillaume II au trône, Berlin, George Decker, 1798.

  37. 37.

    Louis-Frédéric Ancillon, “Dialogue entre Berkeley et Hume”, Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et des Belles Lettres depuis l’avènement de Frédéric Guillaume II au trône, Berlin, George Decker, 1799. Cf. Sébastien Charles, John Christian Laursen, Richard H. Popkin, and Atis Zakatistovs, “Hume and Berkeley in the Prussian Academy: Louis Frédéric Ancillon’s ‘Dialogue between Berkeley and Hume’ of 1796”, Hume Studies, 27, 1, 2001, pp. 85–97.

  38. 38.

    Louis-Frédéric Ancillon, “Mémoire sur les fondements de la métaphysique”, Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et des Belles Lettres depuis l’avènement de Frédéric Guillaume II au trône, Berlin, George Decker, 1803, p. 148.

  39. 39.

    The expressions “Radical Enlightenment” and “Moderate Enlightenment” were recently suggested by Jonathan Israel in Enlightenment Contested, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006. Some, however, may prefer John G. A. Pocock’s “Conservative Enlightenment” over “Moderate Enlightenment”. The former is adopted by Wyger Velema, Enlightenment and Conservatism in the Dutch Republic, Assen, Van Gorcum, 1993.

  40. 40.

    Cf. Silvano Sportelli, Egoismo metafisico ed egoismo morale. Storia di un termine nella Francia del Settecento, Pisa, Edizioni ETS, 2007.

  41. 41.

    On Voltaire’s scepticism, see Stéphane Pujol’s contribution in this volume and his article “Voltaire et la question du scepticisme”, Cahiers Voltaire, 11, 2012 pp. 104–123. In the same issue of the Cahiers Voltaire, see my “Entre pyrrhonisme, académisme et dogmatisme: le ‘scepticisme’ de Voltaire” (pp. 125–148).

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  1. Département de philosophie et d’éthique appliquée, Université de Sherbrooke 2500, boulevard Université Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K 2R1, Canada

    Sébastien Charles

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  1. Université de Sherbrooke, boulevard de l'Université 2500, Sherbrooke, J1K 2R1, Québec, Canada

    Sébastien Charles

  2. , Departamento de Filosofia, Universidade Federal de são Paulo, Estrada do Caminho Velho 333, Guarulhos, 07252-312, Brazil

    Plínio J. Smith

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Charles, S. (2013). Introduction: What Is Enlightenment Scepticism? A Critical Rereading of Richard Popkin. In: Charles, S., J. Smith, P. (eds) Scepticism in the Eighteenth Century: Enlightenment, Lumières, Aufklärung. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 210. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4810-1_1

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